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Cathkin High

S4 Modern Studies

National 3- 5

Democracy in Scotland

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Contents

1. Overview and recap…………………………………………………………………………..…page 3

2. How to participate in Scottish democracy……………………………………………page 4

3. Party policies………………………………………………………………………………………..page 5

4. Campaigning…………………………………………………………………........................page 6

5. How are MSPs elected? The Additional Member System……………………..page 7

6. The Scottish Parliament and Government……….…………………………………..page 13

7. Roles within the Parliament--------------------------------------------------------page 14

8. How the Scottish Parliament make laws………………………………………………page 17

9. Work of an MSP……………………………………………………………………………………page 21

10. Influence of the media on Scottish politics……………………………………………page 27

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1. Overview and recap

In S2 you learned about the relationship between the UK and Scottish political systems, as

well as the differences between them. Test your knowledge by writing a quick definition of

the following terms:

Devolution

Reserved powers

Devolved powers

Sort the following into reserved or devolved powers:

Transport Immigration Currency Health Education Drug laws

Defence / National Security Foreign Policy Housing Welfare benefits

Reserved powers Devolved powers

Discuss the following questions as a class:

1. If we already had a UK Parliament, why did we need a Scottish Parliament?

2. How was it decided there would be a Scottish Parliament?

3. Now that there is a Scottish Parliament, is the UK Parliament irrelevant to Scottish people?

Give a reason for your answer.

4. Do the Scottish Parliament’s laws affect people outside of Scotland in the rest of the UK?

5. If Scotland votes for independence in 2014, what would happen?

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2. How to participate in Scottish democracy

Democracy is about people being involved in decisions which affect their lives of their communities.

List as many ways as you can of how people can do this. Leave some space when you are done as we

will add to this when we have completed the unit.

Democracy is government by the people for the people. Since it is difficult for all people to

directly govern, instead we elect representatives to govern for us. In Scotland we elect MSPs

(Members of the Scottish Parliament) to make decisions on our behalf in the Scottish

Parliament. This is one of the main ways of participating – voting.

The purpose of voting is to elect people with similar opinions to us into the Scottish

Parliament where they have power to influence decision making and speak up for our

interests. People with similar interests have tended to group together into political parties in

order to give their interests the greatest support and therefore the greatest chance of

influencing decision making. The 5 main political parties in Scotland are:

Scottish National Party (SNP)

Scottish Labour

Scottish Conservatives

Scottish Liberal Democrats

Scottish Greens

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Party policies

The following table shows the different parties’ main policies in 2011:

2016: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2016-scotland-36094681

Task

1. Which do you think is the single best policy?

2. Are there any policies you disagree with? If so which ones and why?

3. Overall which party would you be most likely to vote for and why?

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Campaigning

There is a general election to the Scottish

Parliament every 4 years where parties

will put forward candidates, who will

campaign locally to win people’s support

by knocking on doors and speaking to

people, delivering leaflets with their

policies and opinions, and by making

speeches and answering questions at local

centres. At the same time the various

parties will campaign nationally by

releasing manifestos (pledges and reasons

to vote that party) and television adverts

known as Party Election Broadcasts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03qqbns

Your teacher will show you some party election broadcasts by different parties. Complete

the following table, filling it in as you go.

Party Do you find this PEB influential or not?

Why? Why not? Explain.

Today, candidates and parties are making more and more use of the internet and social

media. All parties have websites and official Twitter accounts, and many individual

candidates and MSPs use Twitter to communicate with people, especially the youth. People

can then vote their preferred candidate or party so that their views are represented in

Parliament.

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3. How are MSPs elected? The Additional Member System

In order to understand how MSPs are elected to the Scottish Parliament, it is helpful to first

understand some of the problems associated with the electoral system used to elect MPs to

the UK Parliament. MPs are elected to the House of Commons using a straightforward voting

system known as First Past the Post (FPTP). This is easy for voters to understand as it simply

means voters mark an X next to their favoured candidate and in each constituency (voting

area) the candidate with the most votes wins and is elected the MP for that area. There are

no prizes for coming second and everyone is elected by 1 MP.

However, there are some problems with this system. Imagine there were just 3

constituencies in the UK, each with 1,000 people, and this is how they voted:

Constituency 1:

Conservatives: 400 votes

Labour: 300 votes

Liberal Democrats: 300 vo

Now copy and complete the following table:

Constituency 1:

Conservatives: 400 votes

Labour: 300 votes

Liberal Democrats: 300 votes

Constituency 2

Conservatives: 400 votes

Labour: 300 votes

Liberal Democrats: 300 votes

Constituency 3

Conservatives: 100 votes

Labour: 800 votes

Liberal Democrats: 100 votes

Total votes Total seats (constituencies won)

Conservatives

Labour

Liberal Democrats

Who would form the government if this were real?

What problems do you notice with FPTP?

Can you think how to improve this system?

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The Additional Member System

Hopefully you will have noticed that while FPTP is easy for voters to understand, it is not

proportional, i.e. the percentage of votes parties get is not necessarily equal to the

percentage of seats they get in Parliament. When the Scottish Parliament was being created

it was thought that it was very important to have proportionality so that all people’s votes

counted and so that smaller parties could get some representation. A different electoral

system is therefore used for elections to the Scottish Parliament; it is called the Additional

Member System (AMS). AMS actually uses FPTP for one part of its vote, but not all of it. It is

proportional, but it is not easy to understand; a voting system cannot be both!

The problem with FPTP is that when you only have 1 MP representing an area, that one MP

represents 100% of the area, so it will always be disproportionate, as no other candidates

are being represented, even although they will have won some of the share of the vote.

AMS has a solution; instead of areas being represented by just 1 representative, make the

areas larger, but have them represented by several representatives, according to their share

of the vote in that area! As a result, everyone in Scotland is actually represented by 8 MSPs

in total. How they are elected is quite confusing…..

Voters in Scotland have 2 votes.

For the first vote they are

voting as part of their

constituency and this vote uses

FPTP, just like UK elections.

There are 73 constituencies in

Scotland and the first vote

elects 73 constituency MSPs in

total. For instance, the

constituency MSP for the

constituency of Rutherglen is

Clare Haughey of the SNP.

MSP Clare Haughey (SNP)

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The second vote is where it gets confusing. For the second vote, you are no longer voting simply as

part of your constituency, but as part of a much larger region. Regions are usually made up of

between 8 and 10 smaller constituencies. For instance, for the second vote the constituency of

Rutherglen joins up with other constituencies to form the Glasgow region.

Glasgow region (elects a further 7 ‘additional mebers’ to represent the entire region)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliament_constituencies_and_regions_from_2011

How are the regional MSPs allocated?

The regional 2nd vote is where the proportional aspect of AMS is achieved. Voters vote for a party

and a mathematical formula is applied through 7 rounds of scoring. At the end of each round the

party with the highest score gets 1 regional MSP elected to represent the region. There are 8 regions

in Scotland. Each region elects 7 regional MSPs, so there are 56 regional MSPs. Added to the 73

constituency MSPs, there are 129 MSPs in the Scottish Parliament in total.

The formula is:

Number of regional vote

Number of seats already gained (both constituency and regional)

Number of regional votes

_________________________________________________

Number of seats already won (constituency and regional) + 1

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Party Const MSPs Regional MSPs

Regional votes

Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7

Labour 0

59,151 59,151 / 1 = 59,151

SNP IIII IIII (9)

111,101 111,101 / 6 = 18517

Conservative 0

29,533 29,533 / 1 = 29,533

Liberal Democrats

0

5,850 5,850 / 1 =5,850

Green 0

23,398 23,398 / 1 = 23,398

Round 1 has been done for you. As you can see, after round 1 Labour have the highest score. Labour had put Anas Sarwar top of their Glasgow party list so

he is elected to represent Glasgow as a regional MSP. You will now need to update the ‘Regional MSPs’ box to show a tally mark, as this will change their

formula for Round 2. Complete the rest of the table, each time noting which party had had an MSP elected. Remember the number of regional votes never

changes.

Number of regional votes

_________________________________________________

Number of seats already won (constituency and regional) + 1

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You should have found that Glasgow elected 4 Labour MSPs, 2 Conservative MSPs, and 1 Green MSP:

Anas Sarwar (Labour) Johann Lamont (Labour) James Kelly (Labour)

Pauline McNeill (Labour) Adam Tomkins (Cons) Annie Wells (Cons) Patrick Harvie (Green)

2016 results:

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A helpful mnemonic when thinking about what makes voting systems good or bad is the following

sentence: PCLEC: Purple Cats Like Eating Chocolate. These letters stand for the following:

Proportional: Is a party’s support at the vote fairly represented in Parliament? i.e. does the %

of votes gained roughly equal to the % of seats won?

Choice: do voters have choice, both in terms of when they are voting, and who to speak to

about their problems when their representatives have been decided?

Link: Is there a clear and direct link between the constituents (you) and your representatives?

Do you know who to speak to if you have an issue?

Ease: Is the system easy for voters to understand and use?

Coalition: is the system likely to result in a coalition government? Is this a good or bad thing?

Complete the following table on AMS. The first one is done for you.

Criteria Advantage / Disadvantage

Explanation / Example

Proportionality

Advantage A mathematical formula is applied to the second regional vote to redress the imbalances FPTP created in the first vote. This achieves proportionality. For example in the 2016 election, Labour got 19% of the vote, and 19% of the seats, which is fair.

Choice

Link

Ease

Coalition

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The Scottish Parliament and Government

At general elections we elect the members of the Scottish Parliament. It is then for the Parliament to

decide who the Scottish Government will be. The 2016 election resulted in the following Parliament:

SNP: 63

Conservatives: 31

Labour: 24

Greens: 6

Liberal Democrats: 5

The SNP are just short of a majority, but they form a minority government and should be able to

pass through laws quite easily with the support of just 2 additional MSPs. This may involve some

compromises but should be fairly straightforward, especially with the Greens, who are fairly similar

to the SNP on many issues.

1 MSP became the speaker of the chamber; Ken McIntosh. He does not vote unless there is a tie.

Tasks:

1. What is the difference between the Parliament and the Government?

2. ‘Scotland does not directly elect the government’. What is meant by this statement?

3. How many seats are needed to have a majority in the Scottish Parliament?

4. What gave the SNP the right to form a government in 2011?

5. What happens when no party has a majority after an election?

6. What might be the difficulty with this situation?

7. What evidence is there that the Conservatives are less popular in Scotland than in the UK as

a whole?

New tasks

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Roles within the Scottish Parliament

First Minister

The First Minister is the leader of the party that holds

power in the Parliament, and so they are leader of the

Scottish government. This is currently the SNP leader

Nicola Sturgeon. He has the power to promote MSPs

from within his party to become Minsters or Secretaries

in ‘the Cabinet’ and run government departments, and

he can replace any Ministers he is not happy with. He

chairs weekly meetings of the Cabinet where he sets

the agenda, and he is responsible for overseeing their work as well as for the development,

introduction and implementation of government policy. The First Minister is also the face of

the Scottish government and promotes and represents Scotland abroad.

The Cabinet

The Cabinet is a group of around 20 MSPs, chosen by the

First Minister to run specific government departments.

This is a promoted post and so these MSPs are also

known as ‘Ministers’ or ‘Cabinet Secretaries’. For

example, the Deputy First Minister is Nicola Sturgeon,

the Cabinet Secretary for Education is Mike Russell, and

the Cabinet Secretary for Health is Alex Neil. Most ‘bills’

(motions to become law) are introduced by the relevant Cabinet Secretary. The Cabinet

meets every Tuesday at Bute House, Edinburgh, the official residence of the First Minister.

The First Minister is also part of the Cabinet and he leads these meetings. MSPs who want to

be promoted to the Cabinet will be expected to be loyal to their leader and party. The

Cabinet is the innermost circle of decision makers in the Scottish government.

2016 Cabinet: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36321659

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The Opposition

The largest party not in government are known as ‘the opposition’.

This is currently Labour, and their leader in the Scottish Parliament

is Johann Lamont. She has her own ‘shadow cabinet’; MSPs from

her own party who ‘shadow’ the work of the Cabinet, make sure

they are doing a good job and criticise and hold them to account if

they are not. The shadow cabinet are ready to step in and be the

government without problem after a new election. The Opposition

question the Government in Parliament and usually make the case

that they would be a better Government than the current one. The

main chance for them to do this is at First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) which takes place on

Thursdays between 12 and 12.30. FMQs is an opportunity for the Opposition leader and other MSPs

to try to politically point score against the First Minister. This event gets a lot of media attention and

performances during it can affect the public’s attitudes and voting intentions.

Backbench MSPs

These are unpromoted MSPs who are not in the Cabinet or shadow Cabinet,

and not junior Ministers. Backbench MSPs can be from the party in

government or any other party. Most MSPs are backbenchers. Although they

don’t have the same power as the Cabinet to introduce legislation, they have

a chance to make speeches, speak up on behalf of constituents, contribute to

debates, question the First Minister or Cabinet Secretaries, and they have a

vote on all bills. Votes usually take place at ‘Decision Time’ around 5pm on

days Parliament is sitting. MSPs vote electronically by pressing a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

button at their desks, so results are known within seconds. Backbench MSPs

can introduce 2 ‘Members’ bills’ in each parliamentary session. For instance,

a backbench MSP is the Green’s Ross Greer. He is the youngest MSP ever

elected, at the age of 21. Ross Greer MSP

Presiding Officer

The Presiding Officer, or Speaker, controls debates and

voting procedures. During debates she selects who has

a chance to speak and informs them of how much time

they have. She ensures debates do not go over time

and generally keeps order in the chamber. The current

Presiding Officer is Labour MSP Ken McIntosh. Upon

being elected to this post by her fellow MSPs, he

effectively becomes a neutral MSP and does not take

part in votes unless the vote is tied, in which case he

would cast her vote not to change the law.

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Tasks

1. Describe 2 powers of the First Minister.

2. Why do you think many MSPs are loyal to their party leader?

3. What influence does the Cabinet have in decision making in Scotland?

4. Describe the checks on the power of the Scottish Government.

5. Why is it important to have this check?

6. What powers do backbench MSPs have?

7. Why might people’s voting intentions occasionally change as a result of First Minister’s

Questions?

8. Why is it important to have a Presiding Officer?

9. Your teacher will show you highlights of a recent FMQs. Note down one question the

Opposition leader asks the First Minister, and briefly note his response.

10. An example of a Members’ bill is independent MSP Margo McDonald’s Assisted Suicide of

Bill introduced in 2012 to make assisted suicide for terminally ill people legal. She is hoping

to decriminalise certain actions taken by others to provide assistance to people incapable of

taking their own life. What are your thoughts on this?

Homework

Take a note of the following website on the Scottish Cabinet:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36321659

Note down in your jotter which Cabinet Secretary would be responsible for the following:

a) Introducing a new curriculum and exam structure to Scottish schools.

b) Moving Scotland’s separate police forces into one national force.

c) Monitoring the work social services do for vulnerable young people.

d) Building links between Scotland and countries in need of development and aid.

e) Introducing a bill to introduce a display ban on cigarettes in shops.

f) Introducing a new scheme to boost youth employment and apprenticeships.

New examples?

How the Scottish Parliament makes laws

Much of the work of MSPs do in the Scottish Parliament is done by committees.

Committees are groups of between 5 and 15 MSPs who meet together regularly, usually on a

Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday morning, to consider current and ongoing bills and issues.

Membership of committees has to be agreed on by the whole Parliament, and they will usually

involve MSPs from different parties sitting on the same committee. Most MSPs are members of at

least one committee, and some are members of more than one. Constituency MSP for Rutherglen

James Kelly is currently a member of the Referendum bill Committee, whose role is to scrutinise the

legislation that will enable a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. The Committee will seek

to find out opinions on the date of the referendum, the wording of the proposed question on the

ballot paper, the campaign rules, and the proposed limits on funding for campaigning organisations

and political parties. It plans to report its findings to Parliament in September 2013.Committee

meetings are filmed and available to view on the Parliament’s website. Journalists and the public are

welcome to attend them free of charge. There are currently 19 committees

What do Committees do?

Committees are important because the the MSPs are regularly discussing and passing laws on

matters that affect a very wide range of things; health, medicine, education, science, childcare,

housing, transport, engineering, business, legal matters. The background of MSPs is usually in

politics. While they may be very experienced politicians and skilled at making persuasive speeches

and winning elections, they are not doctors, scientists, engineers or lawyers, and so they need the

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help of experts in these fields when considering bills on these matters. This is where committees

come in.

Away from the more theatrical arena of the debating chamber which is mainly for the purpose of the

viewing public, committees are where bills (draft laws) are discussed more maturely and in a less

party political way. They scrutinise proposed bills and make amendments where they feel necessary

to be sent back to the Government to consider. They need to know that bills will work in practise

and seek out the advice of different groups of people to help them. They can take evidence by letter

or email, invite witnesses to give evidence in person before the committee, and the committee

members can even travel to external locations on fact-finding visits to gather information first hand

from groups, organisations and businesses. For instance, when the Health Committee was recently

considering the Government’s proposed bill in 2009 to have a minimum price per unit of alcohol,

they requested evidence and advice from NHS professionals, The British Medical Association, the

National Union of Students, whisky and brewing companies, supermarkets, the police, local councils

and members of the public. The Committee used this consultation to write a report to the

Government, noting any recommendations, which the Government usually take their findings

seriously. In 2011 the bill was passed by Parliament and becomes an Act of the Scottish Parliament,

or a law. Committees can also carry out enquiries into the work of the Government and call other

MSPs and Cabinet Secretaries before them, especially if there is an area of public concern, such as if

there was a scandal involving poor care at care homes for the elderly. In this way committees act as

another check on the power of the Government as the Government are accountable to them.

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Tasks:

1. What do we mean when we say committees are less ‘party political’ than events in the

debating chamber?

2. Why are committees necessary? Take notes under the headings:

Scrutinising legislation

Gathering evidence from witnesses

Conducting enquiries

3. The Health committee took evidence from the following groups when considering the bill to

set a minimum price per unit of alcohol:

a) NHS professionals

b) the National Union of Students

c) Whisky and brewing companies

d) Supermarkets

e) The police, local councils

f) Members of the public

For each one, state what you think the committee would have wanted to find out from them.

4. In what way do committees act as another check on the power of the Scottish government?

5. Imagine you were an MSP sitting on the following committees:

a) A Health committee set up to consider the proposed smoking ban in public places.

b) An Equal Opportunities committee set up to consider the proposal to legalise same sex

marriage.

c) An Education committee set up to consider the introduction of the new Curriculum for

Excellence in Scottish schools.

d) A Justice Committee considering allowing the use of cameras in Scottish courts.

e) A Welfare Reform committee, set up to investigate how Scotland will be impacted by cuts to

welfare and benefits being implemented by the UK Government (this is a reserved power).

For each one, list who you might wish to call as witnesses (general or specific), what you

might ask them, and what you would be looking to find out from them.

Homework

Look at the following list of current committees:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/help/Committees.aspx

Choose one that interests you. Find out:

Its members and the party they belong to

What the committee’s purpose is (under ‘about the committee’)

One thing the committee is currently looking into (under ‘current business’)

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Passage of a bill through Parliament

First, a bill (draft law) is proposed, usually by a Cabinet Minister (Executive bill), but bills can also be

proposed by MSPs who are not members of the Government (Members’ bills). Committees

themselves can initiate bills (Committee bills), although they rarely do, and individual people, groups

or companies can introduce ‘private’ or ‘personal’ bills, sometimes not seeking a general change in

the law but for obtaining particular powers that are in addition to or in conflict with the general law.

For instance, in 2007 Strathclyde Passenger Transport had a private bill passed by the Parliament

that authorised the construction of a railway through a public space. Members of the public or

pressure groups can also raise an issue with the Parliament by starting a petition or by adding their

signature to a current one. For instance, the Smoking ban in public places, which became law in 2005,

was first raised as a public petition. When the bill is introduced, we are at stage 1.

Stage 1: The appropriate parliamentary committee(s) calls witnesses and takes evidence on the bill

and produce a report on its general principles. A meeting of the Parliament then considers the

report and debates whether to agree to the bill’s general principles. Parliament will debate and

ultimately vote on whether the bill should proceed. If it agrees, the bill progresses to stage 2.

Stage 2: The bill is considered in more detail, and the precise wording of it is scrutinised line by line

by a committee to ensure there is no unclear or careless wording that would cause legal difficulty if

passed into law. The committee can recommend the relevant Cabinet Minister makes amendments

at this stage. If so, the bill is re-drafted and moves on to Stage 3 with Parliament’s approval.

Stage 3: Parliament debates the re-drafted bill and final adjustments can be made to it. Parliament

votes on the bill. If a majority of MSPs vote to pass it, the reigning Monarch signs it. This is known as

Royal Assent. At this point, the bill becomes an Act of the Scottish Parliament, and becomes law. The

entire process between a bill being proposed and it becoming law is usually over a year.

ICT task

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/610.aspx

Choose one previous bill that interests you and find out the following:

Who introduced the bill to the Parliament and when.

What type of bill is it (Executive, Members’, Committee or Private)

What the bill was trying to achieve

Which was the lead committee considering the bill

If and when the bill received royal assent and became law.

Homework: Take a note of the link below: look for one of the ‘latest petitions’ and take a note of

who started it, what it is calling on the Parliament to do, and how many signatures it currently has,

and one comment at the bottom you agree / disagree with or find interesting.

www.scottish.parliament.uk/gettinginvolved/petitions/

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Work of an MSP

As representatives of their constituents, MSPs must be contactable. There are several ways to

contact your MSP to discuss an issue with them or ask them to raise an issue in the Parliament on

your behalf.

Look at the following page from the Parliament’s website showing the contact details of your

constituency MSP, James Kelly:

1. Note down 5 different ways a constituent can contact James Kelly.

2. How often does James Kelly hold a surgery?

3. Why do these surgeries take place within the local constituency and not in his office within

the Parliament in Edinburgh?

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Look at the following diary of an MSP. Draw a storyboard explaining and drawing some of the work

an MSP does each day in a typical working week.

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An MSP’s Surgery SETTING

Cambuslang Town Hall - It is 11am on a cold Saturday morning, and the local MSP is holding his weekly surgery for her constituents

CHARACTERS

Janice Hughes- Constituency MSP (very

politely spoken and well mannered)

Mr. McGlinchy – Quietly spoken man, who

is dominated by his wife!!

Mrs. McGlinchy – Very talkative and does

not really listen to anyone.

Mr. Robertson – having problems with

‘neds’. Very roughly spoken and

opinionated.

Miss Burke – A mother of three children,

she is determined not to let her local

library close.

First in are the McGlinchey’s

JH: Good morning, please take a seat.

Mrs Mc: Ta, we've been waiting ages to

see you, and it's baltic oot there.

JH: Yes the constituency has many people

in it, so the surgery is always busy. What

can I do for you?

Mrs Mc: I'm Mrs McGlinchy, and this is

my husband (points to Mr McGlinchy).

We're having a few problems with the

CSA (Child Support Agency).

JH: So what seems to be the problem?

Mrs Mc: Well it started a few months ago;

basically the CSA are saying that Bob here

has a daughter, and they're threatening to

take £30 a week from his wages every

week to pay for maintenance. It's no’ true.

Mr Mc: Honestly it’s no’ true!! I havnae

touched another women since I married

Isabel here.

Mrs Mc: I don't know how many times

Bob's been on the phone to them and

written them letters, but they just won't

listen. I'm fed up of trying to get this

sorted oot. We're decent people who are

being hassled for no reason. It's no right.

We can't afford to pay £30 a week for no

reason.

JH: I'm very sorry to hear that, Mrs

McGlinchy. When did all this happen?

Mr Mc: I received a letter saying that I

owed £3,000 in maintenance for a

daughter I don't have. They also included

a National Insurance number in the letter

that isn't mine and an address that I

haven't lived at for 20 years. The CSA said

they couldnae really dae anything. I got a

letter last week saying that their records

were correct, and they would have to

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start taking money from my wages to

cover the maintenance.

JH: There certainly appears to be some

sort of misunderstanding here. It's not the

first time that one of my constituents has

come to me with a complaint about the

CSA and mistaken identity. I’ll try my best

to get it sorted out for you. Firstly, what I

will do is write to the………(gets cut off)

Mrs Mc: Huh, that’s what we just did

lassie!! Are you no listenin??

JH: With all respect, if you would let me

finish. I will write to the Chief Executive

of the CSA about your case and get some

answers. I should get a reply from him

quite quickly, and although as an MSP I

have no power of social security, I will

write to the Minister for Social Security at

Westminster informing…

Mrs Mc: Fat lot of good that will…..

Mr Mc: Gonnae shut up Isabel and let the

wummin speak!!

(Mrs Mc looks at her husband shocked!!)

JH: As I was saying, in the Scottish

Parliament we have no power of matters

to do with social security, but I will write

to the minister at Westminster for you.

Don’t worry we will sort it oot!!

Mr Mc: Thanks Miss Hughes

(They leave, with Mrs Mc still looking

aghast at her husband for his outburst!!)

Mr Robertson is next in to the surgery

JH: Good Morning, Mr Robertson how can

I help you today?

Mr R: You can help by wiping that smug

smile aff yir face. I voted for you because

when you came roon the doors looking

for votes, you telt me that you wid take

care of aw the neds making my life hell.

JH: We have helped decrease crime in this

area by 25% sir in little under a year.

Mr R: Whit goods that tae me? I cannae

sleep at night, cannae take the dug for a

walk without them harrasin’ me. My life

is hell.

JH: It saddens me to hear that you are

having such problems. If you write down

the exact details of your problem then I

will ensure that the local police station

are made aware of it. I will ask them to

make more regular patrols of the area so

we can cut out this problem.

Mr R: No doubt Ill see you next month

Miss Hughes – You bloomin’ politicians

don’t have a clue at times!

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Miss Burke is next into the surgery.

JH: Hi Miss Burke

MB: Hi there. I wanted to make sure you

are aware of the closure of the local

library.

JH: Yes I am. It is sad but I did investigate

it and the local council say they can no

longer afford to fund it.

MB: I think that is outrageous. How are

our children supposed to get their books

now? We cannot afford to buy them a

book every week.

JH: I understand where you are coming

from. If I had my way then I would have

as many libraries as possible. Are there

many of you that feel the same way?

MB: Yes, there are many of us on the

Parents committee at school who feel the

same way, not to mention countless other

people I have heard complaining about it.

JH: Well why don’t you all get together

and sign a petition to present to the

Council. If they do not take notice then

submit it to the Scottish Parliament and

they will review the closure. Just make

sure you get as many signatures as

possible.

MB: That is a great idea. I didn’t think of

that. I will whip up as much support as

possible. I will get a petition that will

ensure that the Council cannot ignore her.

Thanks very much Miss Hughes!!

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Tasks

Copy and complete the following table:

Constituent The issue they are raising with their MSP

What the MSP says she will do about the issue

The McGlincheys

Mr Robertson

Miss Burke

Write your own short script similar to those above, about a constituent who visits their MSP’s

surgery to raise a matter with them, and the MSPs efforts to help.

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Influence of the media on Scottish politics

The vast majority of information the public consumes about politics and current affairs comes from

the media. We will consider the following types of media:

Newspapers (print media)

Television (Broadcast media)

Internet (Electronic media)

In recent years advancements in electronic media have meant the Internet, and especially social

media such as Facebook and Twitter, have overtaken newspapers as people’s main news source.

Newspapers

In Scotland the press is free, meaning their content is not

censored by the Government. Newspapers can try to influence

the Government by printing stories that are critical of them, or

by supporting high profile campaigns. For instance, in 2012, the

Daily Record launched a campaign to publicise the cost to the

taxpayers of methadone, a drug used for people trying to tackle

addiction to heroin. The paper claimed the SNP government

were not keeping enough data on whether the replacement drug

was working or not. As a result of pressure from the newspaper, Parliament debated the issue and

the Government were forced into ordering a probe into the effectiveness of methadone treatment.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/daily-records-methadone-campaign-tops-

1426584

Newspapers are free to be biased and openly support or criticise certain individuals or political

parties, and they often do. This can affect the way the public think and even vote. For instance, the

most widely read paper in Scotland is the Scottish Sun. 330,000 Scots buy it every day, and it will

probably be read by about 3 times that number. In the run up to the 2011 election, they supported

Alex Salmond and the SNP, and urged their readers to vote for them. The SNP won the election and

formed the first majority government in Scottish history. Clearly there are other factors which

affected people’s votes, but having the backing of the Sun could not have done the SNP any harm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-13128712

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However, some people think newspapers simply

respond to and reflect the public mood, rather

than create it. Certainly, we should not

exaggerate the influence of newspapers, as in

the 2007 election, both the Scottish Sun and the

Daily Record urged voters to vote Labour, not

SNP, and yet the SNP won more seats than

Labour, so people were evidently being

influenced by factors other than the newspapers.

Task

Your teacher will give you a newspaper. Find a current political story which you find to be

biased in some way, either for or against certain individuals or political parties. Take a note

of this story. Write down how a different newspaper might report the story differently.

TV

Broadcast media is strictly controlled by law so TV news has to be politically neutral and

cannot therefore influence the Government in the same way as newspapers can. However,

they are an important news source for many people.

Reporting Scotland is BBC Scotland’s national TV

news programme. Its main news bulletin is

between 6.30pm and 7pm on BBC 1 Monday to

Friday.

BBC Scotland also air Newsnight Scotland, which

covers topical and political issues on BBC 2

Scotland between 11pm and 11.20pm.

The STV News at Six covers news in Central

Scotland, airing between 6pm and 6.30pm Monday to Friday on STV (Channel 3).

STV also air Scotland Tonight between 10.30pm and 11pm Monday to Thursday.

Although TV media has to be balanced in its reporting, it can still influence goings on in Scotland. By

choosing to investigate or report certain stories, they may force the Government to act in response.

They also hold the Parliament and Government to account as politicians regularly appear in TV

interviews accounting for their actions.

Homework: Find one news story or interview concerning politics in Scotland from one of the above 3

TV news sources. In what way might this coverage affect the actions of Parliament or Government?

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Internet

Today many more people are getting their news from the internet – blogs, online editions of

newspapers, and through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. All major political

parties have their own websites which they regularly update, and many politicians including

your constituency MSP James Kelly and First Minister Alex Salmond, have Twitter accounts

which they use to regularly communicate with people. Twitter is also a very useful way for

political campaign groups to discuss, debate share ideas, graphics and video clips. For

example, in the run up the referendum on Scottish independence on 18th September 2014,

both the ‘Yes Scotland’ (pro-independence) and ‘Better Together’ (anti-independence) have

been campaigning heavily on Twitter.

As we have already seen, people can also use the internet to sign petitions on the Scottish

Parliament website. Look back at your homework from page 18 as an example of how the

internet might influence the Parliament or Government in this way.

Homework:

Find an interesting ‘tweet’ by an MSP, political campaign group trying to influence Scottish

politics, or anybody commenting on Scottish politics. Do you think this tweet will influence

decision making in Scotland in some way? Do you agree or disagree with the tweet?

Having completed the unit, re-read it and now complete the task you started on page 4 –

ways to participate in Scottish democracy.

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